Market demand for smaller and more functional electronic devices has driven the development of semiconductor devices, including semiconductor power packages and entire systems disposed on a chip. Some electronic devices, such as cellular telephones, employ a variety of design-specific electronic components. Other electronic devices, such as power packages utilized in the automotive industry, employ one or more logic chips connected to a carrier and one or more power transistors connected to the carrier and the logic chip(s). The space available inside the electronic devices is limited, particularly as the electronic devices are made smaller.
Wire bonds are employed in some known semiconductor packages to electrically connect the chip(s) to the carrier. The wire bonds are time consuming to connect, but when attached, provide a first level interconnect communicating between the chip and the outside world. The wire connectors are susceptible to oxidation and/or corrosion when exposed to ambient conditions, which undesirably reduces the electrical performance of the semiconductor package. In part to address this issue, the package is typically encapsulated within a plastic protective housing, where the plastic encapsulation material covers the wires and the chip. However, the wire connectors also have a tendency to oxidize and/or corrode if moist air enters through the encapsulation material.
For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.